I realized there are a lot of people who are still concerned about shipping especially in the winter and felt this could be of help here .

We ship about 200 boxes each winter, and have never lost a animal to freezing or overheating.

We are in Eastern Maine right on the coast, so temps can be crazy here. The other day was -16* wind chill, 2 days later it was 53 *...

This is what our standard winter shipment consist of :

We use 12x9x6 superior boxes with 3/4" insulation, and put 2 small air holes in each of the " this side up arrows on the box, that gives us 8 air holes make with a 16 penny nail ( as that is what I have for a earring so it is always available)

We then put a thick layer of crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the box, generally 1-2 whole newspapers crumpled up and then flattened out to give some bulk to them. On top of them we put the snake bag or deli cup the animal is in. Snake bags are always better in the winter as the do not hold the cold like cups. We take more crumpled paper and surround the bag/cup on all sides with it, that way it holds the animals secure but also adds more insulation. Once everything is filled in the box we add a few more sheets of crumpled paper on top of the animal between them and the top of the box, making sure it is bulky so heat can get threw. We use 1 40 hour heat pack per box this size, and wrap a layer of newspaper around it and tape it to the top of the box. The paper works to keep the heat pack from dying out, as if they get moist they stop working. ( Urine from bigger animals kills heat packs quick when it hits the air).

We then tape the top closed with 3-4 strips of heavy packing tape, this completely closes the top of the box the same way as the bottom and keeps the cold out. We ship when its 20* or more out, and have has boxes go out when the temp plunged lower than expected to the low teens or less, and have not had a problem.

Packing animals this way we are relying more on the packing job than the heat pack, so if you get a heat pack the fails you are still safe.

In a large box such as 15x7x11 or 16x16x9 we use 2 heat packs, and in the monster boxes 29x16x12 we use 3 taped to the top, and 1 in the middle of the paper.

A few weeks ago we did a box test, packed a box like we would for ship out heat pack, deli cup etc, and put in out of the front porch for the night. It went from the snake room 85* to outside at 19* that was at 6 pm, the same time FedEx starts moving. The next morning at 7 am after being left in the open all night with a temp of 19* in the morning also, the temp inside the deli cup was 54* .

Not a safe temperature but still a temp that in a worst case scenario you could still expect the animal to survive. Again, not a good temp but it did hold the box 35* warmer than the outside temp.

The weather channel is your best friend when winter shipping is involved.

Hope this helps, not claiming to be experts, this is just what works for us.

If we can ever be of service to anyone with questions about shipping, especially during the winter feel free to contact us.
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J&J REPTILES
www.jnjreptiles.com
sales@jnjreptiles.com
(207)479-6658

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